Should I Homeschool?

It’s Whatever Wednesday, so today I’m writing about my dabbling with the idea of homeschooling my kids.

First day of school
First day of school

When my daughter, Rylee, was four this was a really big topic in my world because she was pretty advanced academically but we couldn’t afford private school ($10,000 for kindergarten!?!  OMG!).

We applied to a charter school lottery.  A charter school is a privately run school funded with public money, so generally speaking, they provide better teacher-student ratios, a more thorough education and are tuition-free.  Which is why parents mob them each year to escape the local public schools.  To handle the demand, charter schools hold an annual lottery.  Parents fill out a thick registration packet and get a number in return.  Charter school officials have a drawing where they randomly select the numbers for the (few) spaces they have available that year, and if your child’s number is called she wins a good education.

Rylee was number 104 on the waitlist.

So I actively investigated homeschooling.  I went to a local meet-and-great for homeschoolers and spoke with several moms and dads and their kids.  It seemed to me that the people I met chose homeschooling for one of three reasons:

  1. They were very religious, or
  2. They had a special needs child (like a son with ADHD) and feared that their child would be bullied by the kids and ignored by the teachers, or
  3. They felt that they could provide a better and/or faster paced academic environment than regular school

My main motivation fell into category 3.  But I had concerns.  Would my kids become anti-social nerds?

Rylee on "Nerd Day"
Rylee on “Nerd Day”

I have no formal training as a teacher; where would I get lesson plans?  And what happens when the kids start learning algebra?  I stink at math.  Finally, how could I focus on my four-year-old when my two-year-old was being potty-trained and demanded a ton of attention?

Their answers were pretty ingenious.  For socialization they met up with other homeschooled kids on Fridays at a local park or for field trips.  They also signed up for soccer and dance classes; their children were not stranded on a lonely geek island.

They told me I had already been homeschooling my kids without the label (I taught both kids to read when they were two,) so it wasn’t really that scary in deed, just in name.  They said there are online programs, as well as full-year curriculum  you can order with workbooks and lesson plans for each grade.  Most of them started with the pre-packaged programs and as they became more confident, they followed the interests of their children and incorporated a lot of field trips to museums.

Rylee writing
Rylee writing

They said that the great thing about homeschooling was that you controlled how time was spent.  Most schools take seven hours but time is wasted taking attendance, walking to different rooms and dividing attention between 20 students.  When you only have one or two kids to focus on you can get through subjects fairly quickly and be done by noon.  Also, if your kid wants to focus on reading a history book, you can let them focus on that for several days and move on to a different subject when she’s done.  You can also teach during the summer and winter break, so your kids will be ahead of everyone else without any additional effort.  This aspect of homeschooling really resonated with me.

As to dealing with multiple kids of different ages, one mom set up a DVD for her little guys while she taught her older girls math, and the other mom said it was just too crazy so she sent her toddler to nursery school 3 days a week for sanity.

Then I thought…’you had me at sanity.’   I’m a very patient person, but honestly I might go crazy homeschooling two kids full-time for the next dozen or so years, which is why I’m a writer and real estate investor and not an elementary school teacher.  Kudos to both homeschoolers and regular teachers; I would have a tough time doing your job.

Rylee and Henry doing math homework. Sorta.
Rylee and Henry doing math homework. Sorta.

Ultimately, I decided to go with regular school because (my homeschooling anxieties aside) I thought regular school would better prepare them for some harsh realities of life:

  • Occasionally you will have a bad teacher (or boss) so you will have to find a way to motivate yourself to succeed anyway.
  • Bullies exist throughout life.  Better to face them on the playground than your first day in the corporate world where the consequences are greater.
  • Life is not always customized.  You have to learn how to wait in line and deal with boredom sometimes.

Regular school has been hit and miss.  Some teachers were so great I’d love for my kids to have them forever.  Other teachers were…meh.  We’ve dealt with bullies in the sandbox and too many worksheets, and fun things like Science Night, school plays, and Destination Imagination competitions.  I guess the school experience is what you make it.

Every winter/summer break I have fantasies of homeschooling my kids and having them start college at age 12.  I’m cured of this about ten days into vacation.  It’s comforting to know that I can always opt for homeschooling if our public school stops working for us.  For now, I do “after schooling,” which means when they come home from school I have them study subjects that I think will advance them academically.  It’s the best of both worlds for us.

Here are some websites we use:

Henry playing on Starfall
Henry playing on Starfall
  • Starfall.com – Also free for phonics, reading, spelling and simple math.  I pay $35/year for the upgraded version that covers material up to the second grade.  My kids love this site.  There are lots of educational games and interesting e-books.  They also have an online store where I purchased some writing journals that have been great.
  • Xtramath.org –  It’s a free website where kids practice their math facts for about 7 minutes per day to increase their speed.  I get weekly progress reports emailed to me.  I wouldn’t say it’s fun, but it is effective.
  • KhanAcademy.org – My friend swears by this website.  We plan to use it once the kids conquer their math facts.  This site is also free and it teaches you a variety of subjects from math to history and is also for adults.  (Calculus anyone?).
  • YouTube – Type in “cool science projects for kids”

DVD’s we love:

  • Liberty’s Kids is an Emmy Award winning PBS series with 44 episodes about the events leading up to the American Revolution.  It cost $5 at Walmart.
  • Rock N Learn.  This series covers everything from Telling Time to Life Science to Spanish.
  • Your Baby Can Read.  The creator of this program, Dr. Titzer, had to pay a big fine for making claims about the success of the program without proper scientific documentation.  I can’t speak to that, but what I can say is that both of my kids used the DVD’s, multi-sensory flash cards and flip books and were reading actual books by age 2, so I found the program to be effective.

Favorite Book:Mind Your Manners Minnie Monster 001 (2)

  • Mind Your Manners Minnie Monster.  It teaches kids how to treat each other politely, but in a really fun way.  Note: I’m also a little biased, as I wrote and illustrated it.  (Did I mention it won a Mom’s Choice Award?)  Only $4.99 on Kindle!  Get it at Amazon.com 🙂

Fun Things:

  • The Thinkery.  It’s Austin’s version of The Children’s Museum.  On Monday they only allow babies and toddlers so they can explore without fear of being knocked over by a rambunctious eight-year-old.  An annual family pass is about $75.
  • Children’s Theatre.  For about the cost of a movie ($10) you can expose your kids to live theatre.  Sometimes the playbill will include thought provoking questions to discuss with your child after the show.
  • My husband and kids like to go exploring on their bikes once a week.  They pack a snack bag and ride a different direction each time, stopping to play at new playgrounds and picking up interesting rocks along the way.  You can’t put a price on time spent together making memories.

How about you?  Have you ever thought about homeschooling?

Lisa ;)

ShesLosingIt.com (c) 2014 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission

6 thoughts on “Should I Homeschool?

    1. My friend swears by it. I set up passwords for my kids. I think I’ll set up an account for me too. I’ve never understood fractions and maybe they can help!

  1. You remember why we left Los Angeles, and one of the many reasons was we wanted a better public school system for our daughter. We looked at homeschooling out there as well as private schools since LAUSD sucked. Or we could’ve moved to Santa Monica or Burbank which we almost did. But it was a matter of the high cost of rent. We are very happy with Jayden being in the Bordentown Public School here in NJ. It’s very advanced, and she has great teachers who love their students very much.

  2. We go to a traditional school, but it’s not been enough for my son, who is constantly behind, and my daughter, who is constantly ahead. So we supplement with reading writing and math in addition to school work. My daughter is 6 and gets zero homework, so it’s great for her to have the extra hour or so of focused teaching at home. Our son is 8 and gets only a smidge of homework so the additional time really helps him understand the work in school and keep him from slipping behind. It’s turned into our bonding time together, which was tough at first, but we really enjoy doing the work together. It’s turned leaning into family time.

    1. That’s great that you guys are bonding while learning. I’ve found after schooling to be pretty positive for our family too.

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